This has nothing to do with the show, and yet, it has valuable lessons to teach us all!

Lance R. Shinkle is a professional artist from Falmouth, MA whose works range from stunning paintings (as seen here), to amazing full-scale carved merry-go-round horses. He is a member of the American Society of Portrait Artists. He also is the artist for The Cape and the Cod.

It was 1988 (ignore the “Cape Cod Comics 1990” logo, I’ll explain later), and Mr. Shinkle and performer Allan Moniz (who now teaches at the Cape Cod Conservatory) decided to put out their own indie black-and-white comic, as was the style at the time. The idea – co-developed with Dennis F. Rogers – was to promote Cape Cod (Falmouth specifically) with a superhero comic.

Let’s see where it began to go wrong.

For those of you who didn’t grow up on Cape Cod, I need to explain something. First, our hero is named “Dr. Brewster Jones” because Brewster is a town on the Cape.

I probably need to do some more explaining – I keep forgetting that you all weren’t born on the Cape… The Boston Celtics are a basketball team native to Massachusetts. Garbage collectors are often known for their disrespectful treatment of the very expensive cans we leave out for them. Taxi drivers are helpful and attractive!

Now the biggie – Dr. Jones works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (or WHOI), which is an internationally-known research organization and The Official Smartest Thing in Falmouth, Nay, The Entire Cape. They brought you ALVIN and Bob Ballard, who found the Titanic for James Cameron. They research all forms of marine life, including soopah-fish.

Note that there is no Woods Hole lab in Brewster – Brewster has a lab in Woods Hole!

Now, pertaining to the Evil Toxic Waste Dumpers. Where I come from, Cape Cod, we call them Otis Air Force Base. It seems that dumping oil, jet fuel and explosives in the ground for several decades has created a massive toxic plume which filters into the ground water. Residents of Sandwich and Mashpee have been warned.

Get it? The Latin name for cod is Gadus morhua! But as David Bowie would say, you’ve got to get ready for the Gadus superior!

As for the name of the mini-sub SIGY – I don’t get it. It’s clearly the sub ALVIN. Mr. Moniz or Mr. Shinkle, if you’re reading this, you can email me at readalicia [at} gmail {dot] com to explain this joke.

Oh yeah, SoopahCod… gonna get it o-o-onnnnn……

But no! They bred and they bred and they bred the Gadus superior and they still couldn’t keep it from getting caught in a net with holes large enough for it to swim out of. I think Dr. Jones just likes to watch cod do… private things.

I would have had Dr. Jones say, “Oh, spermaceti,” but that’s just me.

Yup.

Was it good for you, too?

Houston, we have a catchphrase.

If hurricanes won’t stop windsurfers from surfing the waters off Cape Cod, toxic waste won’t either.

IMMINENT!

Dr. Jones is truly the Master of Disaster after getting into an unnatural embrace with a cod.

And now the thrilling, we-ran-out-of-pages conclusion:

Mr. Moniz, I see what you did there with that “Fin?”

Also, note that the copyright is 1988 at the end – such is the way of publishing.

So there you have it – “The Cape and the Cod” indie comic! The only one of its kind. If you check the side of the above page, you will see exactly who to blame for this:

“This publication is supported, in part, by the Massachusetts Art Lottery, as administered by the Falmouth Arts Lottery Council.”

Yep. Funded by the state lottery.  “To stimulate awareness of the lottery and help ensure its ultimate success, arts councils and potential recipients of Arts Lottery funds are encouraged to support the Arts Lottery in all appropriate ways.” You can read more about the Arts Lottery here (PDF).

While there never was a sequel, Mr. Moniz and Mr. Shinkle did pen another comic called “The Knife”, about a man who becomes two-dimensional and is able to slip through cracks and cut things with his sharp edges. I didn’t pick it up at the time. Sorry guys!

–Alicia E. Goranson, show author

Others include:

• i maed you a tunnel but i eated u
• Im in ur tunnel humpin ur Explorer
• I wan be luvd bai u – Boo boo bee do
• ur gonna need a bigger bukkit

Thanks to Julia for some of these.

In which the island’s guardians are revealed, and Leonard Allen makes a most peculiar deal for his life.

This episode’s After Dark tale: “The Heart-Shaped Box”

Size: ~64MB \ Running Time: 1:09:36

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Alternative download link: here

ALLEN: It’s a PRESTO!
SCOTTIE: It’s a fryalator?
If you ever wanted to know more about the humble PRESTO recorder and its usage in recording old-time radio shows, this site is a great resource.

I always thought of this particular lighthouse as more like the Nobska Point lighthouse in Woods Hole, MA than the one on Wings Neck. Allen’s lighthouse isn’t that big though. The first floor has a entryway that leads to the kitchen, the radio room and a closet, and the second floor leads to the bedroom and bathroom. It is such a bachelor’s pad. I don’t know how the old keepers lived without WiFi – they probably had a lot of porn.

Sea Robin island was given its name because sea robins are some of the creepiest fish I ever caught. Their pelvic fins look and act like claws and they have some serious teeth. I used to catch them when we went out for scup or flounder.

In this interview, Will Smith is very polite to Terry Gross about some rap album he did over a decade before he had played Ali.

The Mouse’s prophecies are changed from the original script. Before we made Episode 1, we weren’t sure we were going to make it past five episodes. So, yes, her prophecies used to include Season 2 spoilers.

The uroboros concept for the After Dark episode was one of the first ideas I had for Episode 1. While we won’t do it again, I intended it to be a call to arms, that we were going to do different things in this show and the listeners should expect such.

The actors pretty much improvised the Winsley Wheat harmony on the spot. Neil wrote the tune after I wrote the lyrics.

Many of the characters names are taken directly from my relatives. They know who they are, and they have already reminded me of this. Thanks, guys.

Since it’s basically me doing all the non-speaking, non-musical parts of the show, most of the sound effects you hear are from Neil’s collection or purchased on-line. Sorry to ruin the romanticism of the humble radio drama, but I can only do so much without an SFX crew. Sounds that I did make include the banging on the gate and the driving SFX. I actually do more in Episode 2, including throwing myself into the tub which took several takes and did a job on my bathroom floor. Also, my cat doesn’t meow unless she’s annoyed so it’s all prerecorded kitty SFX for you folks.

The ocean is nice to look at but I have a severe phobia of swimming in it. I get very scared in situations in which I could potentially fall long distances, and the ocean increases this since the “ground” might as well not be there. I like pools though. I should have given Allen a pool. And a hot tub. I should have given me a hot tub. Forget Allen. If only I didn’t live in an apartment.

–Alicia E. Goranson, Show Author

In high school, I used to believe that after death, you’re trapped in a world built from your own memories. Anywhere you haven’t been is a haze. (Farscape would not be produced for years after this.) I would comb the school over to see every bit of it – the attic, the teacher’s lounge, and the hall which ended in a service elevator.
But recently, I woke up and realized I have no idea how to get to my high school. I spent three years at its current location and drove there regularly. I have a vague idea of how to get there, but I’m missing one particular turn in my memory. I can remember how to drive to other people’s high schools, even those I’ve only visited once. Either my high school experience has not been relevant to my last couple decades of life, or I’ve blocked it out.
I grew up on Cape Cod, which is a weird mix of rich and poor, affluent and working class, conversation and progressive. My own family reflected this – we were technically upper-class but lived in a New England saltbox (without the slanted roof) that my dad designed as a challenge to himself, which eschewed concepts such as retaining sunlight, heat and proper air circulation. We had woods for a front yard and wood shavings for a backyard. He and my sister worked on their own cars while my mom ran off to perform in the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and later, to teach biology at JFK UMass. In our neighborhood, we stuck out as teetering-on-trash-with-Volkswagens. It’s the sort of world in which parents of trust fund babies wish they had raised their kids. In fact, some did:

Like most of Cape Cod, Wings Neck is a pile of iceberg leavings, down the street from my neighborhood. It is also where members of the Town Council and Other Assorted Rich Bastards live. The road to Wing’s Neck was as cracked and pot-holy as they come, until you hit the stretch to Wing’s Neck itself, which was mysteriously well paved.
This is the inspiration for Sea Robin island. Neil had the idea for the tunnel. I had the idea that it would be well-paved. David Lewis and company are not Rich Bastards, but they are doing well enough thanks to… well, spoilers. There are other people on Sea Robin island who are Rich Bastards but I won’t get to them until later in the series.
I drove out to Wing’s Neck again before we started recording the series. There is a lighthouse at the end, (closer view) which you can rent out. I went there to record some sound effects but there was too much wind for them to be usable. Of all the sound effects I recorded that day, the only one that made it to the show was of my car driving from Old Silver Beach to the North Falmouth rotary. (That’s the scene in which David Lewis is driving with Leonard Allen.) I used to walk to this lighthouse all the time. There’s a sign that says “Private Property” and a chain link which cordons the road off. A chain link fence.
There’s another pair of groups on Cape Cod – the year ’rounders and the summer folk. We year ’rounders laugh our butts off at chain link fences. If the straightest line to the beach crosses three back yards and a dining room, we will happily make that bee-line without hesitation or guilt if nobody’s looking. I have been over that chain link fence before. I come from very passionate people with a working class ethic.
And so does The Mask of Inanna.

–Alicia E. Goranson, Show Author

P.S. Incidentally, you can get the full flavor of this world from my novel, Provincetown, Ho!, available on the interwebs.